mo64

He had 5 years remaining on his Pies contract, which he was never going to renegotiate.

We have no interest in Ben McKay because he doesn't address an urgent need, and we have more pressing issues.

What we offer is irrelevant, because it seems he is leaving for opportunity, not money. Even if we have a fat contract in front of him, as an UFA, the other club doesn't have to match or exceed our offer.

The club may say that they wanted to retain JJ, but did everything possible to drive him away. Getting Hunter would have been a slap in the face, because he established himself as a wingman in 2022. And Hunter really hasn't proven to be an upgrade. Then constantly used as a sub or at Casey in 2023. The club's list management needs to be questioned. Like Bedford, JJ is leaving before he has reached his prime. And I don't see a lot of emerging midfield talent at Casey to cover for injuries in 2024. Unlike some in our current team, JJ will walk into most teams. Unfortunately he was not one of Goody's pets. Sad to see him go.

I haven't been a Tomlinson fan post his ACL, but you could see that his presence allows for Lever and May to fly for contested marks. But more importantly, our list profile would start to look dire if we lost Hibberd, Melksham, Grundy, Dunstan, Tomlinson, BBB, T Mac all in one hit. I totally understand why the club deem Tomlinson as a required player.

Some of the worst takes on Demonland, and that's saying something. Criticise Kozzie for ill discipline in giving away a free when we have possession, and getting suspended. But we had only 2 impactful forwards going into the Blues game, they being Kozzie and Fritta. Kozzie probably tried too hard to make an impact. But comparing him to a player who offered us nothing for a season and a half, and rightfully found himself at Casey, is laughable. Kozzie is one of the premier small forwards in the comp, and Spargo wouldn't get picked up by any other club if he was on the open market. If anything, the thread should be Spargo v Bedford - The learnings. Don't give players with low ceilings a 4 year contract extension, and you may be able to retain impact players like Bedford.

Where do you start? Even if we won last night, it would have been painting over the cracks. Aside from our top end talent and foot soldiers, we have no obvious depth. At the start of the year we traded for Grundy, who can't take a contested mark, so it was pretty obvious our gameplan to bomb into the forward line would continue. Took us half a season to work it out, but then lose Petty and Melksham. IMO, our season was done once those 2 went down. Tim Lamb and Jason Taylor need to be held accountable. Why are we bringing in mature aged players like Dunstan and Schache when we have no intention of playing them, even when a like for like gets injured. And we need to do a better job of extending contracts for fringe players like T Mac and Spargo. They become list cloggers. Aside from McAdam, go to the draft and get the best kids. And pray that JVR and Petty stay fit all next year.

Why change something that we've been doing most of the year? It makes me sick watching us kick long to a contest. Nothing has changed in 2 years. Why the hell didn't we activate the sub and replace the invisible man T Mac? I don't want to listen to another Goody presser till round 1 next year. He's full of hot air. "We want to win a flag in front of our home fans". 0-4 at the G in finals past 2 years. Thanks Goody. I'm not gutted because the Lions would have smashed us if we got through. And I don't want to ever read another post saying how wonderful Choco is.

You play polo on match days? Little wonder we get stereotyped. 😄

Howe plays for Collingwood now.

Aside from JJ for Gus, the changes are a real head scratcher. We select Tomlinson with McKay out, and the Blues going small. And we drop a more mobile Hibbo from a backline that conceded only 60 points last week. And essentially Spargo comes in for JVR. Why have we given Schache another year? So unless Goody has devised a new gameplan in the past week, I have no confidence in us scoring over 60 points in what will be ideal conditions.

You can add Dunstan to those who'll be leaving. That's a lot of senior players leaving the club, with very few obvious youngsters at Casey filling the void. I'm usually in the camp that likes list turnover, but I'm concerned with how unbalanced our list may be next year. Aside from Howes, I don't see any Casey mids or key forwards for that matter progressing to AFL level next year. If Schache isn't selected this week, his re-signing is bewildering. We are probably in our best position ever with draft picks and salary cap to land a "Big Fish", but sadly there is no gun out there that we covet. I agree that we need to utilise our 1st and 2nd round picks, and hopefully land some AFL ready talent, like we did the year we got Jackson, Kozzie and Rivers.

I didn't realise we had Tim English to come in. Grundy is a former AA ruckman, just like I'm a former 30 year old.

Grundy stepped on it at training. Purely an accident of course.😁

Giving Spargo a 4 year deal last year meant the end for Toby. Bedford has a 10 times higher ceiling than Spargo. Poor list management.

I wish we got Hayden McLean instead of Grundy. He was the perfect fit.

I'm in the camp where accidents will happen on the footy field, but this was avoidable. The camera shot behind Maynard is damning. There was no reason for him to brace on contact. He was in no danger of being injured by a collision with Gus, if he just kept his arms up or straight ahead. The correct penalty should be minimum of 4 weeks, but we know how the MRO and tribunal chook lotto works. He'll get off.

Our forward line has been disfunctional most of the year, and just when we thought we had the answers, we lose Petty and Melksham. Fritta and T Mac missed large chucks of the season. The game wasn't lost at the selection table. You can't blame the selection of Laurie as sub for our insipid 1st quarter. And anyone suggesting that Grundy would have made a difference are delusional. Max was brilliant as the sole ruck, and Grundy isn't a forward. Can't see us beating the Blues next week unless Goodwin comes up with a better plan for our forward entries.

Didn't Clarry express similar grievances on the track with our fitness staff? Seems like the club targeted Mcadam prior to Melksham doing his ACL. A genuine goal kicking half forward is exactly what we need.

Firstly, Laurie was vital as a sub in our comeback win against the Swans. And if Grundy was a "game breaker or vital to the cause" he'd be in the team. Laurie deserves to be sub, but if not, JJ will get the gig. Grundy is the least likely to be the sub.

Very cryptic or perverse. 😂 Took me a good 40 seconds to work it out.

I have no issue with what was said on Footy Classified, or by Jeremy Howe. Their opinions were shared by 99% of the football world when the trade was made. And it's proven to be correct. As for Grundy meeting with Port players and Hinkley, if the club has told Grundy's management that he's free to explore other options, then there's no issue. If the meeting was held over Zoom, we wouldn't be talking about it. If Max goes down and Grundy is required, meeting with Port should have no impact on his performance. If he's mentally checked out of the MFC, then that would be reflected on the training track, and he wouldn't get selected anyway.

I think that Jefferson has shown enough to suggest that he has the tools to make it at AFL level. For a majority of the year he was playing alongside 2/3 experienced AFL forwards who tend to command the ball. BBB, T Mac and Schache are still on our list next year, and my concern is whether Jefferson's development will be hindered. He needs to be the no.1 or 2 key forward at Casey to build his confidence.

How is it that people can't see that both Max and Grundy perform better when they have the no.1 rucking duties for a majority of the game? Ruckmen generally aren't burst players. Max has elite endurance and can wear down opposition rucks. As we've seen this year, splitting the ruck time actually dilutes Max's impact on the game. People on here were calling for Max to be dropped. It's no coincidence that the team has performed better since Max has gone single handed, especially our forward line.

I've addressed this before, but Grundy turns 30 next year and will still have 3 years remaining on his contract at the end of 2024. If we hold on to him for one more year, and he finds himself at Casey for most of it, no other club will take on his 3 yr $650k contract at age 31.